Table It!...Part 5...Creating a Table with Census Returns

I originally started talking about tables because Michelle (a reader) likes to take census returns and present them to her clients in a table. Therefore, that's the example I'm going to use for creating a table. The table will include every census entry with the surname McKee in Randolph County, Illinois in 1850.

The first thing I have to do is create a plan for the table.

1. Am I going to have entries only for the 1850 census or am I doing other census years?
   If only 1850, you can be more artistic and place the title in the table.
   If more, you will likely want to have a title that can be picked up in a Table of Contents (TOC).
2. Do I want the table title to appear in a TOC?
   If yes, place the title of the table above the table and apply a Heading Style (probably a Heading 3).
   If no, you can be more artistic and place the title in the table. 
3. Do I want to include every column that appears in the census?
   If yes, change the page orientation to landscape (wider than tall).
   If no, you might be able to fit the table on a portrait page.
   In addition, you can treat the table as a graphic and turn it so that it fits sides ways on a portrait page. We'll talk about this process in a later post. 
4. Do you have enough skills to construct the table in the middle of your document?
   If yes, go for it.
   If no, open a new document. When you have the table you want, you can copy and paste it into your document.

Here's the table I constructed in a separate landscaped page with a Heading 3 title. 

Here's the table I constructed in a separate landscaped page with a sidebar title (won't be in TOC).

The tables have a couple of problems. 

1. The first table breaks in the middle of a row in the table. That doesn't happen in the second table.
2. The headings don't show on the second page. 

These problems are easily fixed using menu options and table properties. However, first you need to reproduce the table. I'll take you through those steps in the next post, because there are a few new instructions (for example, changing page orientation so that you can construct the table). 

So see you in the next table post...